Individual or Collective

May 12th, 2008

Economic Freedom, Limited Government, Constitutional Rule of Law, Individual Liberty, faith in individuals and free people to self organize, against the collectivist, coercive, centralized, command and control, consolidating wealth and power in single entity, controlled by a few to govern the many.

Socialism is a coerced community; Limited Government is community of free and independent individuals.

Mandated Universal Health Care and K-12 Education

May 12th, 2008

Will a mandated, universal health care system work as well as the mandated, universal K-12 “thorough and efficient system of public education.

The government monopoly educational system is overpriced and inefficiently allocates resources, sucking earnings and investments of productive people from economy, reducing the resources available to creativity of individual initiative which innovates and produces goods and services we all want and need.

Competition and choice are key to quality and affordability and the incentive to individual initiative to create ways and means to deliver goods and services to all of us. The Conceit of the Planner, our benevolent, and much smarter, betters.

Transparency at County and Municipal Level

May 11th, 2008

In my opinion, at the County level, we should be posting the ‘check register’ of all payments made by the County, including all payroll, on the County website in searchable format.  The County’s bank has this and it is almost no cost to transfer to County web site.

The County Budget can also be posted on County web site, in searchable format.

We should also require the posting of all NO BID contracts AND contributions made by vendor or affiliated employees to any county political campaign or party. The Network of  No Bid Vendors and their Lobbyists  is politicizing what should be economic decisions, quality services at affordable price.

Americans for Tax Reform have been promoting some transparency initiatives.

Show Me the Spending

Americans for Tax Reform has a comprehensive memo and at State level Senator Browne has introduced similar legislation  SB 1350.

Taxing University endowments - an Idea whose Time has Come?

May 10th, 2008

Taxing Windfall Profits of Billion Dollar University Endowments?

Taxing universities with billion dollar endowments might be an idea whose time has come. Many of these universities are subsidized by the state. If they have billions in endowments, why do they need a subsidy?

If the interest earned were, for example, used for scholarships, then the State and Federal government would not have to give taxpayer subsidized grants to students saving millions. Who is profiting from the nonprofits? No one? Billions moving around and no one is profiting? Lawyers? Financial advisors?  Teachers and administrators and faculty not getting paid? Not getting platinum plated health benefits? Not building and sucking up investment capital?

Glen Beck analogizes to businesses and he has a point. All the reasons given by Harvard apply to job creating, productive business. More taxes, fewer jobs and fewer products and services.

On the other hand, if businesses are taxed, why not universities? Aren’t they businesses? Taking money in and spending it on what the corporation thinks best. And salaries and fees are paid. The difference is that universities are funded by productive taxpayers who get whatever return the university thinks they should get and there is no choice, no opportunity, not to pay.  Whatever the original reasons for special tax treatment, it is apparent that a company with billions in assets does not need the money from the productive taxpayer. And not taxing a Billion Dollar University endowment makes as much sense as not taking a Billion Dollar Business.

Small businesses, even businesses that don’t make a profit, are taxed, why not a billion dollar university?

 

Obama and the Jewish Vote American Thinker

May 9th, 2008

Note the reference in this article to Schiavo matter. Terry Schiavo was an innocent and disabled person who was killed by starvation. Why was not starving her to death not only murder but cruel and unusual punishment? Isn’t the government’s role to protect the innocent from violence to their own persons?

How could any person who believes in individual liberty, the value of each and every person,  and values of Sinai think otherwise? Beyond me.  All these liberals who argue for rights for disabled and then think it okay to do nothing when an innocent and disabled person is killed, with Court approval. What do your kids think?  McCain is not a Free Market, Limited Government, Economic Liberty conservative but he is far better than Obama.  And on foreign policy, there is no question he is better. He understands the threat.

I think there is more to Jewish support than Iran, Israel and foreign policy.

 

Personalizing and demonizing the opposition is an Alinksy organizing tactic. Key phrase:  “Republican Jews, the author claims, are either greedy or scared. Such rhetoric flies in the face of the alleged unity-inducing quality that is often trumpeted as a key appeal of Obama. By demonizing Jews who support Republicans, Democrat partisans are merely revealing their insecurities about the bona fides of their presumptive presidential candidate.”